Tufted upholstery panel



Jan. 17, 19%? J FENERMAN 3,298M47 TUFTED UPHOLSTERY PANEL Filed April 16, 1965 5 Sheets-Sheet l INVENTOR JACK FE/lVE/QMA/V BY M" u ATTORNEYS Jan. 17, 1967 J. FEINERMAN TUFTED UPHOLSTERY PANEL Filed April 16, 1965 5 sheets 5heet 2 M111 1967 J. FEINERMAN 3,298,U7

TUFTED UPHOLSTERY PANEL Filed April 16, 1965 3 Sheets-Sheet 15 ATTORNEYS United States Patent 3,298,047 TUFTED UPHOLSTERY PANEL Jack Feinerman, 715 Ocean Ave., New London, Conn. 06320 Filed Apr. 16, 1965, Ser. No. 448,673 3 Claims. (Cl. -356) The present invention relates generally to furniture, and more particularly to features of construction of an upholstered panel for furniture. t

The use of a resilient upholstered panel or cushion, usually made up of foam rubber or the like, to improve the comfort of furniture such as chairs, couches or the like, is already in wide use. There are also numerous techniques or practices'presently employed to enhance the appearance of an upholstered or so-called upholstery panel, including not only the use of highly decorative fabric covers for the raw resilient material or blocks of such panels, but also the pleating or tufting of such covers in numerous designs and patterns. Despite the considerable work expended in this area, and the great number of workers engaged in this activity, the distinctive and noteworthy appearance of a tufted upholstery panel demonstrating features of the present invention is unique and not duplicated by any known prior art.

Broadly, it is an object of the present invention to embody a new and distinctive appearance in an upholstery panel by the tufting applied to said panel. Specifically, it is an object to provide tufting in areas of an upholstery panel heretofore not having this decorative surface treatment.

It is a further object of the present invention to provide an upholstery panel having tufting which greatly improves the appearance thereof, and which further greatly increases the utility of said panel for certain end uses, as for example as a backrest for a chair, couch, or similar furniture unit. I

An upholstery panel demonstrating features of the present invention is comprised of a block of resilient material, preferably foam rubber, and an outer cover for said block made up of fabric, supported vinyl, etc. The outer cover includes a front and a rear section in face to face relation with each other, and plural side sections connected between and about the peripheral edges of said front and rear sections so as to form an appropriate structure for enclosing said block. Each of the front and rear cover sections is further provided with an identical tufted appearance which is formed by a predetermined pattern of height variation between select areas of each of said front and rear sections. More particularly, on each of said front and rear sections a first group of select areas is extended into a proximate or even touching position with each other at plural points throughout said panel. Appropriate connecting means, which preferably are upholstery buttons, are employed at each of said plural points for maintaining said proximate position of said first group of select cover areas, and thereby provide a visible contrast with adjacent cover areas which are normally maintained a greater distance apart by the interposed portions of the resilient block coextensive with said adjacent cover areas.

The above brief description, as well as further objects,

features and advantages of the present invention, will be more fully appreciated by reference to thefollowing detailed description of presently preferred, but nonetheless illustrative, embodiments in accordance with the prestures of the present invention; j

out invention, when taken in conjunction with the ac- 7 FIG. 2 is a perspective view from a vantage point beneath said upholstery panel of FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 is a fragmentary perspective view, on an enlarged scale, of said first embodiment;

FIG, 4 is another fragmentary view of said first embodiment, but in plan view;

FIG. 5 is a fragmentary elevational view, in section taken on line 5-5 of FIG. 4, illustrating details of the constructural features of the panel contributing to the tufted appearance thereof;

FIG. 6 also is a fragmentary elevational view, in section taken on line 6-6 of FIG. 4, illustrating further details of the constructural features providing said tufted appearance to said upholstery panel;

FIG. 7 is a perspective view of a cover and of a resilient block preparatory to these two units being combined into a unitary upholstery panel;

FIG. 8 is a perspective view of said cover and block units in a partially combined condition;

FIGS. 9, l0 and 11 are views of another embodiment of an upholstery panel according to the present invention in the specific end use as a chair backrest unit, namely, to wit:

FIG. 9 is a plan view of this upholstery panel embodiment best illustrating a slight, conventional curvature contributing to its utility as a backrest;

FIG. 10 is a front perspective view of said upholstery panel; i i i FIG. 11 is a rear perspective view of this upholstery panel embodiment;

FIG. 12 is a perspective view of still another embodiment of an upholstery panel according to the present invention;

FIG. 13 is a front elevational view of this upholstery panel embodiment best illustrating the height variation provided throughout said embodiment; and

FIG, 14 is a side jelevational view of said upholstery panel.

Reference is made to the drawings, and in particular to FIGS. 1-8 ofa first embodiment of an upholstery panel, generally designated 20, which demonstrates features of the present invention. The upholstery panel 20 includes an interior block of resilient material, preferably fabricated of foam rubber and generally designated 22 (see FIGSl 5-8). 5 As is generally understood, the panel 20 further includes a cover, preferably of fabric, supported vinyl, etc., herein generally designated 24, and made up into an appropriate ,c'onstruction enabling the same to function as an enclosure or covering piece for the block 22. While it is well known in the prior art to provide a tufted appearance to a visible front surface of an upholstery panel, the panel 2 l) herein has this desirable appearance provided entirely throughout its con: struction, on both the visiblefront and hidden rear surfaces thereof, as may best be seenby a comparison of FIGS. 1 and 2. This tufted appearance is more partic ularly achieved by select cover areas, herein individually and collectively designated 26, being extended inwardly into the three-dimensional volume occupied by the panel 20. Preferably, the cover areas 26 are drawn to each other toestablish contacttherebetween and are physically connected to each other at these points of contact. Thus, the cover areas 26 provide a favorable contrast with adjacent cover areas, herein individually and collectively designated 28, which are maintained apart by the interposed portion of the resilient block 22 coextensive with saidadjacent cover areas 28. This contrast between the cover areas 26, 28 contributes to a novel and noteworthy ornamental tufted appearance which is achieved throughout both the front and rear surfaces of the panel 20. j

Having reference now to an exemplary embodiment for a resilient block 22, attention is specifically directed to FIGS. 58. Resilient :block 22 is advantageously cut to any shape desired, which as clearly shown in FIGS. 7, 8 may include an almost-square rectangular body 30 having an integral elongated rectangular front portion 32 which extends laterally beyond the opposite sides of the body 30. Resilient block 22, irrespective of the spe cific shape and form in which it is embodied, includes front and rear faces 30a, 30b, respectively. Additionally, said resilient block 22 is provided with a plurality of openings, herein individually and collectively designated 34, which extend from one face 30a to the other face 30b and are located in a predetermined arrangement throughout the block 22 to impart any desired design or pattern to the tufted appearance which is ultimately provided the upholstery panel 20.

As is best shown in FIGS. 7, 8 the cover for the block 22, 24 which completes the construction of the upholstery panel 20 includes a front section 36, a rear section 38, and the usual plural side wall sections herein individually and collectively designated 40. Said side wall sections 40 are connected, as by stitching 42, about and between the peripheral edges of the front and rear cover sections 36, 38 so as to provide an enclosing structure for the resilient block 22. A zipper 44 is advantageously incorporated in the rear connecting wall section, more specifically designated 40a, to provide an opening 46, selectively opened and closed by the zipper 44, through which the resilient block 22 is stuffed into the interior of the cover 24. As best shown in FIG. 7, an appropriate procedure for applying the cover 24 to the resilient block 22 consists in working the cover 24, in an inside-out condition, over the front of the resilient block 22 and then progressively along the length of said block, an intermediate stage in the assembly of said panel 20 being il lustrated in FIG. 8.

For the specific form of the embodiment of the upholstery panel 20 illustrated in FIGS. 7, 8, there is nothing required in applying the cover 24 to the block 22 until the first row of openings 34 is encountered in the body 30 of said-block 22. When such row of openings 34 is encountered, the areas 26 in aligning locations in the front and rear sections 36, 38 which are coextensive with said openings 34 are drawn together from opposite directions into said openings into a proximate or contacting position with each other, as is best shown in FIG. 6. This proximate or touching position of the cover areas 26 is then permanently established by the application of upholstery buttons 48 appropriately connected to each other through the cover areas 26. Thus, from the upholstery buttons 48 which mark the locations at which the front and rear cover sections 36, 38 are closest to each other, said cover sections are progressively spaced farther apart from each other until the adjacent cover areas 28 are encountered which are coextensive with the interposed portions of the resilient block 22 in their normal, uncompressed height H. Thus, the constrast provided in an identical fashion between the cover areas 26 and the adjacent cover areas 28 in both the cover front and rear sections 36, 38 contributes to a noteworthy tufted appearance in both the front and rear surfaces of the upholstery panel 20.

As is generally understood, to accommodate the concentration of the cover areas 26 at each location of an upholstery button 48 requires some gathering-in of the material of which said cover is fabricated, such gatheringin more particularly taking the form of bodily folds or pleats, herein individually and collectively designated 50. These pleats 50 may be arranged along predetermined fold lines which generally radiate into each location marked by an upholstery button 48, or they may be permitted to occur in a random fashion about each said upholstery button. As best shown in FIGS. 7, 8 it is also desirable to provide presewn pleats 50a in cover areas which are not tufted per se, as for example in the marginal areas thereof, in order to take in the excess material in these areas. This may be best understood from FIG. 8 wherein it is to be noted that immediately rearwardly of the first encountered row of applied upholstery buttons 48 the excess material created by the tufting is gathered into the pleats 50, and immediately forward thereof an appropriate corresponding amount of excess material is gathered into the presewn marginal pleats 50a to provide a tailored and finished appearance to the cover 24.

In a slight variation of the just described upholstery panel 20, and which variation is more specifically illustrated in FIGS. 1-4, the upholstery panel in addition to a tufted appearance in the cover front and rear sections 36, 38 is also provided with a tufted appearance in the front connecting wall section more specifically designated 40b in FIGS. 1-4. In this variation, the upholstery buttons collectively designated 48a which are located in said front section 40b are appropriately anchored to the cover section 40b or alternatively to the interior located buttons 48, and have said presewn pleats 50a therein to simulate a continuation of the tufted appearance which results from anchoring said upholstery buttons 48 to each other throughout the adjacent front and rear cover sections 36, 38. The height variation or contrast between the areas 26 and 28 along the cover section 40b is not as pronounced as throughout the cover sections 36, 38, but some height variation is possible 'by constructing the pleats 50a in an appropriate'fashion to pinch into the resilient block 22.

In the tufted panel embodiment of FIGS. 9-11, in which the same but primed reference numerals are employed, the tufted panel 20 illustrated therein is set at an angle of ninety degrees to a seat cushion illustrated in phantom perspective, wherein said tufted panel 20' will therefore be recognized as serving as a chair backrest unit. In this end use, the highly decorative and ornamental tufted appearance which is provided throughout both front and rear cover sections 36', 38 is of particular commercial importance since both of these sections are at all times visible. Moreover, in the upright position of the panel 20, the continuation of a simulated tufted appearance by the application of presewn pleats 50a in the cover connecting wall section 4%, also has added commercial importance because of the prominent display position of said cover wall section. It should also be noted that the tufted panel 20'.is provided with a slight curvature to facilitate and contribute to its utility as a chair backrest unit. This is readily accomplished by fabricating the interior resilient block with this curvature. Although not shown, it will be understood that the panel 20' is appropriately framed or otherwise integrated with rigid support structure which conventionally forms a part of the chair or other furniture unit with which the panel 20 is employed to improve comfort in a well understood manner.

Reference is made to still another embodiment of the present invention illustrated more particularly in FIGS. l214, in which the same but double-primed reference numerals are employed. The tufted panel 20 of this embodiment is very much similar to the previously described embodiments including an internal foam rubber or resilient block having the essential characteristics of that of said previous embodiments, and a suitable outer cover 24" for said block. However, as best shown in FIGS. 13, 14, the panel 20" does not have the same height throughout its entire construction as might be expected for the areas 28". To further enhance the appearance of the panel 20 some height variation is provided even throughout the areas 28". Thus, the panel 20 has height variation not only between the group of areas 28" and the inwardly extended group of areas 26 (marked by the upholstery buttons 48"), but also even between the individual outwardly extended areas of the group of areas 28". This is again readily achieved by providing the resilient block which provides the shape to the panel 20" with a contour providing this shape to said panel. In other essential visible aspects, the panel 20 has an identical tufted appearance in both the cover front and rear sections 36", 38", and an appropriately simulated continuation of this tufted appearance in the connecting front wall section 4011", all of which provides said panel embodiment 20" with a highly ornamental and decorative appearance of great commercial interest and value.

A latitude of modification, change and substitution is intended in the foregoing disclosure and in some instances some features of the invention will be employed without a corresponding use of other features. Accordingly, it is appropriate that the appended claims be construed broadly and in a manner consistent with the spirit and scope of the invention herein.

What is claimed is:

1. An upholstery panel comprising a block of resilient material formed with plural openings therethrough at predetermined locations throughout said block and an outer cover for said block, said cover having a front section and a rear section in face to face relation, and plural cover side wall sections including a front wall section connected between and about the peripheral edges of said front and rear sections forming an enclosure for said block, said front wall section having presewn pleats therein to Provide a tufted appearance thereto and said cover front and rear sections having a similar tufted appearance formed by a first and a second group of cover areas providing a height variation throughout said respective cover sections, said first group of cover areas being coextensive with said plural openings in said block and extended from opposite directions into said openings into contacting positions with each other within said openings, said second group of cover areas being coextensive with the interposed portions of said block surrounding said openings and normally maintained apart by said interposed portions of said block to provide contrast with said first group of cover areas, and connecting means extended between said cover front and rear sections for joining said first group of cover areas of said cover front and rear sections to each other.

2. An upholstery panel as claimed in claim 1 wherein said block of resilient material varies in height to provide said second group of cover areas of said panel with corresponding variation in height.

3. An upholstery panel comprising a block of resilient material formed with plural rows of openings therethrough at predetermined locations throughout said block, said openings being displaced in adjacent rows so as to form diamond-like arrangements of said openings throughout said block, and an outer cover for said block including a front section and a rear section in facing relation to each other, said front and rear sections having a first and second grou of areas at different heights providing a tufted appearance to said panel, said first group of areas being coextensive with said openings in said block and extended from opposite directions into said openings into contacting positions with each other Within said openings, said second group of areas being each substantially diamondshaped and coextensive with the interposed portions of said block surrounding said openings and normally maintained apart by said interposed portions of said block to provide contrast with said first group of cover areas, each said diamond-shaped area of said second group being delineated by bodily folds in said front and rear section which form pleats therein free of any stitching to maintain the folded condition thereof.

References Cited by the Examiner UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,845,637 8/1958 De Stefano 5-356 2,895,542 7/1959 Schutte 297--2 19 3,093,407 6/1963 Wilson 297-230 3,103,082 9/1963 Baermann 5356 FOREIGN PATENTS 738,003 10/1932 France. 1,348,939 2/1963 France.

838,859 6/1960 Great Britain.

366,134 1/ 1963 Switzerland.

FRANK B. SHERRY, Primary Examiner.

CASMIR A. NUNBERG, Examiner. 

1. AN UPHOLSTERY PANEL COMPRISING A BLOCK OF RESILIENT MATERIAL FORMED WITH PLURAL OPENINGS THERETHROUGH AT PREDETERMINED LOCATIONS THROUGHOUT SAID BLOCK AND AN OUTER COVER FOR SAID BLOCK, SAID COVER HAVING A FRONT SECTION AND A REAR SECTION IN FACE TO FACE RELATION, AND PLURAL COVER SIDE WALL SECTIONS INCLUDING A FRONT WALL SECTION CONNECTED BETWEEN AND ABOUT THE PERIPHERAL EDGES OF SAID FRONT AND REAR SECTIONS FORMING AN ENCLOSURE FOR SAID BLOCK, SAID FRONT WALL SECTION HAVING PRESEWN PLEATS THEREIN TO PROVIDE A TUFTED APPEARANCE THERETO AND SAID COVER FRONT AND REAR SECTIONS HAVING A SIMILAR TUFTED APPEARANCE FORMED BY A FIRST AND A SECOND GROUP OF COVER AREAS PROVIDING A HEIGHT VARIATION THROUGHOUT SAID RESPECTIVE COVER SECTIONS, SAID FIRST GROUP OF COVER AREAS BEING COEXTENSIVE WITH SAID PLURAL OPENINGS IN SAID BLOCK AND EXTENDED FROM OPPOSITE DIRECTIONS INTO SAID OPENINGS INTO CONTACTING POSITIONS WITH EACH OTHER WITHIN SAID OPENINGS, SAID SECOND GROUP OF COVER AREAS BEING COEXTENSIVE WITH THE INTERPOSED PORTIONS OF SAID BLOCK SURROUNDING SAID OPENINGS AND NORMALLY MAINTAINED APART BY SAID INTERPOSED PORTIONS OF SAID BLOCK TO PROVIDE CONTRAST WITH SAID FIRST GROUP OF COVER AREAS, AND CONNECTING MEANS EXTENDED BETWEEN SAID COVER FRONT AND REAR SECTIONS FOR JOINING SAID FIRST GROUP OF COVER AREAS OF SAID COVER FRONT AND REAR SECTIONS TO EACH OTHER. 